The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War

by Fred Kaplan

Kennedy emphasized that he was no pacifist or idealist. “I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream,” he said. “Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace—based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions, on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned.” With such a peace, he allowed, “there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests.” And he condemned Communism as “profoundly repugnant,” a “negation of personal freedom and dignity.” But, he said, “we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements” and recognize our “mutual abhorrence of war,” recalling that “no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union suffered in the course of the Second World War,” and noting, “Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other.” Yet both nations were caught up in “a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counter-weapons.” Both sides, then, “have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race.” So “let us not be blind to our differences—but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.” Or at least, “while defending our own vital inte...